Procter & Gamble, owner of the Duracell brand, has announced a joint venture with induction-charging effort Powermat, with P&G having the controlling interest in the new Duracell Powermat.
Powermat gets an undisclosed lump of cash and a 45 per cent interest in the operation, which will develop Duracell-branded products …

Micro USB Phone standard fine....

HP Touchstone

Now that I got my hands on a touchpad, I'll be getting a touchstone as well: a wireless dock (stand) for the touchpad. But it does way more than the powermat: The touchpad talks to the stand, this includes a unique ID, so you can let the touchpad start an app or show different content based on the stand it is in (home/work for example)

erm is the most obvious thing...

I have 5 battery chargers of all shapes sizes and permutations dotted around the home, office and car. All I should need is a powermat and compatible rechargeable batteries.

Just throw a handful of spare batteries onto the mat in the morning and by the evening they are charged and ready for use. remote controllers for the telly, stick-em in there as well. (should be able to just throw the remote on the mat as well before you go to bed so it always is topped up)

Got a powermat in the car, great, chuck a handful of batteries on top for the emergency torch

It should take out the complexity of the capacity of the battery being married up to the cheap chargers.

But the big thing that makes me concerned on this technology is what is the efficiency rating?

I mean, from a theoretical 100% efficient device charging a mobile phone, then showing the efficiency of the manufacturers standard supply. And then the powermat rating. (bear in mind that ac type chargers are not (in my house anyway) often unplugged.

I used to interview candidates for application development and one of the tests to see if they could think simply and efficiently was to show them a laptop where when unplugged, the cable fell to the floor. They had 5 mins to design a solution. there were an amazing amount of designs for docking stations and suggestions to lengthen the cable, but the answer I was looking for was to stick the cable to the desk with the roll of tape already sitting on the table.

You might be right

about the Powermat. If so that means it isn't doing induction charging right. The touchstone on the other hand is induction charging done right. It answers all four of your points.

1. It needs a PSU ,yes. but what charger doesn't and this one's the size of a C cell.

2. It's slightly less portable but there's nothing stopping you taking just the plugpack and USB cable.

3. It takes up less desk space than the phone itself.

4. The plugpack plugs into the mains socket. The USB cable connects it to the charging stand. No mains cable needed.

You can call me lazy but tracking down the end of a USB cable (especially when the whole thing has decided to disappear behind the table) is a daily ritual I can do without. Plus when my phone is sitting on the charger it turns into a very nice bedside clock.

Yes, I'm enthusiastic about the technology. But since it's turned keeping my phone charged from one of those constant annoyances of modern life to something I just don't think about, I think I have good reason to be.

I like wires.

Especially for charging, much better juice hit from the mains.

Can only see wireless charging taking off when the induction coils are actually built in to the device/battery. Also echo the points about efficiency above but investments with a long tail are no bad thing.

I have no doubt this will be the future way of doing things but there is a whole heap of disparate tech mfrs to get onside first. And of course the liquid powered stuff that is floating around could also disrupt things too.

At least with wireless charging...

There's no opportunity for ham-fisted menaces to snap, mash and mangle connectors and cables... some of which are a complete PITA to replace, especially considering the frequency with which they seem to get broken!

USB Charging is great...

............but why did Olympus not provide it on their FE5035 camera? (which I was given as a present. Would not have bought it myself BECAUSE...). It has a USB connection for downloading pictures, but to charge it you have to REMOVE the battery and place it in an external charger. Add to which the "micro USB" connection is a non-standard one!!